Love Your Local Band: Tsunami

Local rock group Tsunami plays lots of festivals and events, and they’ve gotten used to promoters asking them for a one-sentence description. What they’ve come up with is: “Out-the-gate, on-your-feet rock ’n’ roll band.”

Yup, that pretty much sums it up.

The group plays covers from the ’60s, ’70s, and sometimes ’80s. Danceability is important, and they like to add some surprises, like give a Carole King song a reggae flair. It’s tricky sometimes, but they feel like they’ve created something distinct.

“We try to keep it new. We rehearse a lot to bring in new material,” says singer Cynthia Larson. “We like the ’60s and ’70s; that’s kind of our era. Not too many bands go back that far. There are a lot of people that love that music.”

One thing they bring to the music is a never-ending fun spirit, not to mention lush harmonies. Three of the members of the group provide not just backing vocals, but lead.

“There’s three lead singers in the band. I’m one of them,” says Larson. “For us, it’s almost like another instrument in the band. We trade off vocals. There’s usually always some kind of harmony in there, sometimes three-part, sometimes just two-part. It definitely adds a whole other dimension.”

Aaron is a hard-working freelance writer with a focus on music, art, food, culture and travel. In addition to Good Times, he's a regular contributor to Sacramento News & Review, VIA Magazine and Playboy. When he's not working, he's either backpacking, arguing about music or working on his book about ska. One thing's for sure—he knows more about ska than you.